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Meeting between the Gorash and Ramkarh
“And that’s how a crocodile and a jackal came together and made a dolphin.” “Yes, Khamen, it’s a fascinating story. I’ve heard it a hundred times before.” Actually, she hadn’t. That was the first time, in fact, which was strange, because she’d read at least dozens of the scrolls in the temples about the beginnings of the world and how the gods came to be, and none of them had involved a drunken night at the bottom of the river. Well, one of them had, but that was a different story. “Now could you keep quiet for just a few minutes, for once?” Edara had been trapped on this godsforsaken boat for days living off nothing but the fish they had been able to catch. Sure, they’d been able to catch enough, but fish gets boring when you worship the goddess of water and everyone expects you to look them in the eye and thank them sincerely for donating your temple baskets of fish and fried fish and dried fish and – “Actually I changed my mind. Tell me a different story about Sebok. He’s so terribly awe-inspiring.” Really, as king-gods go, he could stand to be more commanding. Laiknathe seemed to do all of the heavy lifting in all of the scrolls she read. “Something about the war with Ramun, perhaps?” Just as her companion opened his mouth, she raised a hand. He rolled his eyes. “Wait, Khamen. I think I saw something move in the rushes. Can you paddle us a little closer?” He quietly set to work. The shallows here were a nice change of pace from the open water they’d been on. It was marshy but still navigable for their dhow. As they neared a patch of scrub, she saw it move again. “Remind me, is it heresy if we kill a crocodile?” “Kill a – why, I… what are you…” “Oh lighten up, I’m not saying we’ll need to, just as a precaution. In case. Does it taste better than fish? I’ve never had it.” As the flustered priest attempted to gather his wits she managed to get a closer look. “Oh, you can forget the crocodile thing after all. Unless you’ve ever seen a red crocodile? With stripes?” The beast was nothing like she’d ever seen, and Nebpheri be damned if she wasn’t going to figure out what it tasted like. “Pass me that spear. The one with the rope tied to it; if I try to pull it in we might go down. Can you try to find some land to pull onto?” Not half an hour later, the pair scrambled onto a muddy bank with what appeared to be an old courtyard, long since overgrown with weeds and dirt. Khamen dragged the beast up to a crumbled column as Edara started a fire. “So all praise and worship to Nebpheri and the bounty of her waters and all that, but it sure is nice to be back on land again, such as it is, eh?” He grinned at her. “Oh, I don’t know about all that. I enjoy the boats myself.” Hmph. River gods. Whose idea was it to make a river god the king, anyway? Why not something imposing, like the mountains, or the sun? But no, Sebok defeats Ramun in battle and gives him his daughter in the peace deal. Now Ramun mounts Nebpheri every morning while Sebok just lies there in his bed. Some story. “Now then. Any idea how to carve this thing?” Skiswagh had been left in charge of the salamanders for the day while everyone else went out hunting treasures. It wasn't by his choice really, he just happened to have attempted to pass of an oddly shaped strawberry with a strange pattern of mold off as a new delicacy. How was he to know Old Kaziwumple would get sick? Stupid Salamanders didn't need looking after anyway, all the stupid beasts did was stand there...wait a moment...he counted one, two, thr....where had the third salamander gone off to? Well he would have to find him or Old Kazi would beat him with his own lyre, dipping down he found a trail of broken reeds and muddy prints headed down away from camp. Having followed the prints for some time, Skiswagh had come to the point where he was almost out of strawberries and wine and was considering returning to camp to take his punishment before he caught the flicker of flames off to his right. Sinking low to the ground he crept closer and closer to the small blaze, until he caught smell of roasting hide and knew where the beast had gone. Full of rage he knelt and sent up a quick hymn for guidance before charging into the camp fully expecting some renegade Gorashi to be feasting upon his animal. But when he broke the encircling reeds he quickly pulled to a halt as those who sat before him were not as he had previously thought. They towered over him, even whilst sitting, yet they spoke to one another in their foreign tongue with a slight lisp that gave it an almost musical quality. Perhaps...perhaps they weren't so dangerous after all? Well he would soon found out as even as small as dear Skiswagh was he still had been but standing the open amidst a stranger's camp. As Edara finished off another leg, Khamen began making muffled noises in her direction. He was terribly hard to understand with a mouth full of roast beast, but he swallowed with difficulty and pointed behind her. "Um, it looks like this place might be inhabited after all." Turning over her shoulder, she spotted the man standing just at the edge of the reeds. He was a strange looking little thing, certainly not like anyone she'd known back home. He also looked almost... sad. Was that it? It might have been disappointment, or worry. She turned back to her companion. "You don't suppose he can understand us, do you?" Turning once more, she asked "Can you understand us?" "Are you writing this down? This is fascinating!" Edara waved a hand in Khamen's direction, though her gaze never left the pygmy singer. Ever since he had first spotted them and emitted some strange grunts, he had stood there in a near-catatonic state, completely unresponsive to even the most outrageous attempts to get his attention. Instead, he had merely stood there, in place, looked to the sky, and began singing undecipherable gibberish, barely louder than a hum. It was almost hypnotic - she could not venture a guess how long it had gone on; it could not be more than several minutes, perhaps an hour, yet strangely it felt as if it had dragged on days... even weeks. And so it was that after much time, the strange creature before them grew silent, his eyes raising up to meet those of the men before him, a sad look marring his face. The bushes around the camp began to rumble, and a soft series of thumps became more and more audible by the minute until finally roughly two dozen more of the creatures slowly plodded forth from swamps, with two beasts identical to the slain one that littered their camp. Astride the greater of these two beasts rode a much more grizzled version of the original creature who seemed to hold some authority over the rest. The grizzled one reached within his saddlebags, pulling forth a small instrument of some sort, strumming a few soft notes before exhaling loudly. " You have slain my second favorite Salamander outsiders. I should like to know ... why?" "Khamen you remember how I asked you if it was sacrilegious to eat a crocodile? Because I feel like this may have been worse." Khamen nodded gravely. "Maybe I should handle it this time?" "Maybe that would be best." "First off let me apologize to you for the salamander. We had been out on the bay for days and it had been a long time since we had anything good to eat and, well, it looked tasty. I can promise you it served very well. We were unaware these were held precious to any locals or, indeed, that there were any locals at the time we butchered it. We promise we won't do it again. We were actually hoping to find any sort of people like yourself in the area to establish diplomatic relations and are quite relieved we didn't come out all this way for nothing - that is, I hope not. We have a number of nets and hooks and spears for catching fish in the boat with us, if you'd like to take a look." And so it was that the Old Bard of the Wilderness known affectionately as Kaziwumple turned a potentially hostile situation into a chance to expand the world's strawberry market, for nowhere else but the swamp did the beautiful crop grow so sweet or in such volume. The Salamander riots had temporarily stretched thin food supplies, so terms were drawn and sent so that what items were available could be traded from Gorash's stores would go to feeding its' people, and their newest trade partners, should they find the terms agreeable. Edara was concerned. Khamen had just gone over to talk to the leader and had been offered a piece of paper when he got a strange, nearly crazed glint in his eye and began rapidly repeating SIGN IT SIGN IT SIGN IT under his breath. Still, the terms seemed fair to her, and she had given control of the diplomacy to him, so she saw no reason to step in. She just wanted some strawberries. Category:Nationbuilder VII Trade Meetings